Snow ski for making fast turns



Oct. 19, 1965 1.. R. WERNTZ SNOW SKI FOR MAKING FAST TURNS Filed Jan.28, 1963 LEAAND R WEENTZ INVENTOR. fimwfijww ATTORNEY A United StatesPatent 3, 12,787 SNOW SKI FOR MAKING FAST TURNS Leland R. Werntz, 421AS. Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, Calif. Filed .Ian. 28, 1963, Ser. No. 254,088Claims. (Ci. 286-1113) This invention relates to an improved type ofsnow ski, designed to allow for increased maneuverability over the snow,as compared with prior conventional skis.

In making a run with conventional skis, a skier is definitely limited inhis freedom of maneuverability by virtue of the difiiculty necessarilyencountered in attempting to make a turn with such skis. Since the skisinherently tend to form and travel along straight tracks in the snow, asubstantial amount of effort is required to remove the skis from thesetracks for travel in a changed direction. Often, this entails actuallyjumping out of the initial tracks, with the aid of ski poles, or forcinga change in direction by some other turning technique, but in any caseit must require the expenditure of a very substantial effort, withprecision in turning being difiicult to accomplish, and with thefrequency of turns being limited even to the most expert skier. Needlessto say, any novice must spend many hours in learning to turn.

A major object of the present invention is to provide a new type of skiwhich can be turned much more readily than conventional skis, withoutthe necessity for jumping or otherwise exerting excessive effort, and ina very simple manner which is so easy to learn as to eliminate much ofthe training period heretofore required for learning to ski. As willappear, the turning technique which may be used with this new type ofski is so easily attained and effortless that it completely eliminatesthe necessity for the usual ski poles. With my new type of ski, a personmay maneuver in any desired complicated pattern while travelling down aslope, and with such freedom that ski poles actually become a hindrancerather than a help.

To attain the discussed result, I utilize a ski having a rear portionwhich acts as the main tracking portion while travelling straight, butwhich is adapted to be very easily raised upwardly just far enough tobreak the tracking effect, and enable the ski to turn to any desired newdirection. Such slight elevation of the rear tracking portion of the skiis made possible by forming the undersurface of the ski to advancegradually upwardly from a point near the toe of the users shoe, so thatthere is provided at that point or location a fulcruming area aboutwhich the ski may be rocked forwardly by shifting the weight of theskier in a forward direction. When the ski is rocked forwardly in thismanner, the primary engagement of the ski with the snow is at thefulcrum location, so that the portions of the ski behind and in front ofthat area do not prevent the discussed pivotal direction changingmovement of the ski as a whole. After the new changed direction has beenattained, the user shifts his weight rearwardly, to bring the maintracking portion of the ski downwardly into proper engagement with thesnow to form a track and thereby maintain a straight line course untilthe next successive turn is desired. For assuring an effective trackingaction, the rear portion of the ski has edges formed along its oppositesides and defining essentially sharp blades acting to bite into the snowsurface and prevent lateral sliding when the skier is travelling down aslope at an angle, or under other similar conditions which might inducelateral sliding.

The above and other features and objects of the invention will be betterunderstood from the following detailed 3,212,787 Patented Oct. 19, 1965description of the typical embodiments illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating a preferred form of ski embodying theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the FIG. 1 ski;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the ski;

FIG. 4 is a side view similar to FIG. 1, but showing the ski as itappears when rocked slightly forwardly during turning of the ski on asnow surface;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged transverse section taken on line 55 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 but showing a variational type ofside blade element;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary side view taken on line 77 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating the frictionalresistance to turning which is encountered in using conventional skis;and

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8, but representing diagrammaticallythe reduced amount of friction which is encountered in turning with aski constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Referring first to FIGS. 1 through 5, I have illustrated at 11 anelongated snow ski which is adapted to move along the upper surface of abody of snow represented at 11. To facilitate description of the ski,the snow in FIG. 1 is typically illustrated as presenting a horizontalupper surface. To the upper side of the ski body, there is mounted astructure 12 for detachably securing a ski shoe 13 to the ski. Structure12 may be of any conventional type, typically including a tread or pad14 on which the shoe rests, a rear retaining assembly 15 adapted to gripand hold the heel portion of the shoe, and a front clamping assembly 16for engaging and holding the toe portion of the shoe. Shoe retainingstructure 12 may be located near, but preferably slightly back of, thecenter of the ski, longitudinally.

To now describe the unique configuration of the snow engagingundersurface 17 of the ski, this undersurface has a rear portion 18which, in the FIG. 1 position of the ski, lies in a horizontal planefrom the rear end 19 of the ski to a location 20 near the point at whichtoe 19' of shoe 13 is retained. As seen in FIG. 5, the only interruptionof the precisely planar and horizontal configuration of the rear portion18 of undersurface 17 occurs at the location of a center tracking groove21, which is located midway between and extends in the same direction asopposite side surface 22 of the ski body. Groove 21 may be relativelyshallow, and have the essentially V- shaped but somewhat rounded crosssection illustrated in FIG. 5.

On opposite sides of groove 21, as seen in FIG. 5, the horizontal planarundersurface 18 extends laterally to the locations of a pair of sidetracking blades 23, which may be embedded within and tightly bonded tothe material forming the ski body 10, with blades 23 havingundersurfaces 24 forming horizontal planar lateral continuations ofundersurface 18 of the main ski body 10. Blades 23 may be formed of asuitable metal, such as a high quality knife steel, capable of formingsharp longitudinal right angle guiding edges at 25 lying in the plane ofundersurfaces 18 and 24. Extending upwardly from edges 25, blades 23have outer vertical faces in alignment with, and forming continuationsor portions of, the parallel vertical side surfaces 22 of the ski body.The ski body itself may be formed of a suitable sufliciently strongmaterial, such as glass fiber reinforced polyester resin, typicallyhaving a finish coat of epoxy resin, with the resin itself serving totightly adhere to and hold in position blade elements 23.

As stated previously, the discussed horizontal rear portion 18 ofundersurface 17 continues forwardly to location 20, which is near, andpreferably is slightly forwardly of (say one to three inches in frontof) the toe portion 19' of shoe 13. At location 20, undersurface 17commences to advance gradually upwardly, as the undersurface advancesforwardly. This upwardly inclined forward portion 26 of undersurface 17lies in an upwardly inclined plane 27, disposed at an angle a withrespect to the horizontal plane of rear surface 18. Angle a maytypically be between about 2 and 6, preferably about 4. Forwardly ofundersurface 26, the ski is turned upwardly to a slightly greater angleat 28, to form the short planar undersurface 29, and is then turnedfurther upwardly at 30 to form a short planar tip end undersurface 31.

As seen best in FIG. 3, groove 21 continues forwardly beyond thelocation 20 through at least a portion of the longitudinal extent ofhorizontal undersurface 26, and typically to the point designated 32 inFIG. 3. Also, the two blade elements 23 at opposite sides of the mainski body may continue forwardly beyond location 20, and also desirablybeyond the front end 32 of groove 21, preferably to location 33 in FIG.3, which is approximately at the point 28 at which the increasedangularity shovel end of the ski body commences. The forward portions ofblade elements 23 are inclined upwardly at the location 20, to followthe upward angularity of undersurface 26 of the ski body, so that,between locations and 28, the blade edges lie in the same plane asundersurface 26, and define the opposite side extremities of that plane,in correspondence with the FIG. 5 showing of the rear portion of theski. With regard to width, the ski may flare to a slightly increasedwidth as it advances forwardly from location 20 toward point 28, thisflaring being apparent from a careful review of FIGS. 2 and 3.

The rear portion of the ski body, rearwardly of location 20, is stifferthan the portion of the ski forwardly of location 20. For this purpose,the ski may be somewhat thicker rearwardly of location 20, with thethickness typi cally being slightly reduced rearwardly of a point 34(FIG. 1), beyond which the upper surface of the ski body may be inclinedslightly downwardly at 35. Forwardly from location 34 to a point 36, theupper surface of the ski may have a horizontal portion 37, with theupper surface then being inclined slightly upwardly at 38, and thenbeing further inclined upwardly at 39 and 40 parallel to surfaces 29 and31 respectively. Thus, as seen clearly in FIG. 1, the vertical thicknessof the ski progressively decreases'as it advances forwardly fromlocation 20 toward the tip end of the ski. The thickness of this forwardportion of the ski is desirably thin enough to give that portion someflexibility in use, while the rear portion back of location 20 issufficiently thick to render it substantially completely rigid, andincapable of fiexure under any nor-; mal conditions of use.

In using a pair of skis of the type illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5, askier normally stands in a position such that his weight holds the rearplanar undersurface 18, between locations 19 and 20, in the FIG. 1position of continuous engagement with the upper surface 11 of the snow.Thus, this rear portion glides along the snow, and of course sinksdownwardly into the snow a slight distance whose depth is determined bythe condition of the snow surface. With the rear portion of the ski thusembedded slightly within the snow, opposite side edges 25 of the ski actto form straight tracks in the snow, and bite into the surface in amanner positively preventing lateral shifting movement of the ski fromits assumed straight line course. This tracking effect is assured by therigidity and length of the rear portion of the ski, and the fact thatthe ski projects a very substantial distance x rearwardly of the shoe,preferably a distance at least as great as, and for best resultsconsiderably greater than, the length of the shoe itself.

When the skier desires to turn, he shifts his weight forwardly a shortdistance, to an extent sufficient to cause the entire ski body 10 torock forwardly about pivot location 28, as a fulcrum. More particularly,FIG. 4 illustrates the position to which the ski may be rocked forwardlyabout point 20, so that the undersurface of the ski is moved out ofcontact with the snow both forwardly and rearwardly of point 20. Thus,the only area which contacts the snow with any substantial force is thefulcrum area 20, and it is therefore relatively easy for the skier toturn the skis to any desired new directional orientation about pivotarea 20. When the skis are properly aligned with the desired new courseof travel, the skier shifts his weight rearwardly to again bring therear portion of the ski downwardly into engagement with the snow, to theFIG. 1 tracking condition, in which the rear portion of the skimaintains a continuous straight line course until the user againpurposely rocks forwardly to turn the ski to still another direction.Further, it is noted that this entire turning procedure has beeneffected without any necessity whatever for the usual lateral jumpingmotion, and with-- out the necessity for any ski poles to assist inturning. It has also been found that, even if the snow is deep enough orsoft enough that a part or all of the ski rearwardly or forwardly oflocation 20 remains in some contact with the snow when the ski is rockedforwardly to the FIG. 4 turning position, the ski can still be turnedVery easily as a result of the minimization of tracking effect attainedwhen the ski is in the FIG. 4 position.

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate diagrammatically the reduction in turningfriction which is attained by the skis of the present invention. FIG. 8shows a conventional ski, which upon turning has a high friction area 41extending the entire length of the ski, and whose friction is highenough to prevent lateral shifting movement in turning of the skiwithout a very decided jumping action. In the FIG. 9 representation,illustrating the greatly reduced friction area 42 associated with mynovel type of ski, it will be apparent that the frictional resistancewhich is concentrated primarily at the pivot location 20 is small enoughto avoid the turning restriction of FIG. 8, and therefore enable thepreviously discussed easy turning of the ski, when the ski is in theforwardly rocked FIG. 4 position.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a ski 10a which may be considered as identicalwith that of FIGS. 1 through 5 except that the two side blades 23aextend vertically at the opposite sides of the ski body, rather thanhorizontally at its under side. Blades 23a lie in two parallel verticalplanes, and may advance slightly upwardly beyond location 20 as doblades 23 of the first form of the invention. Blades 23a are retainedagainst the opposite side surfaces 22a of ski body 10a by screws 43which extend through vertical slots 44 in blades 23a, and are threadedlyconnected into the ski body. The blades are so adjusted as to have theirright angle sharp edges 25a disposed in the plane of undersurface 17a ofthe ski, and are then secured in that adjusted position by tightening ofthe screws. This arrangement enables the blades to be shifted downwardlyafter they have become dull from use, and then be sharpened to present anew pair of sharp right angle blade edges at 25a. In correspondence withthe showing of FIGS. 2 and 3, the substantially vertical planes of thetwo blades 23a may flare slightly apart as they advance forwardly ofpivot location 20, and as the blade edges and undersurface of the skibody incline gradually upwardly.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A snow ski comprising an elongated unitary ski body adapted to have ashoe attached to the upper side thereof in a predetermined position,said body having a rear portion with tan undersurface which is adaptedto engage and extend essentially horizontally along a horizontal snowsurface forwardly to a location near the toe of said shoe and projectsrearwardly beyond said shoe a distance greater than the length of theshoe, said rear portion having at opposite sides of and substantially aslow as said undersurface two essentially sharp edges acting as bladesextending longitudinally of the ski body at positions to bite into thesnow and form a track therein preventing lateral movement 'of the skibody, said body having a forward portion which in use is connected inessentially fixed position relative to said rear portion with anundersurface of said forward portion meeting said rear portionundersurface and advancing gradually upwardly as it advances forwardlyfrom said location near the toe of the shoe to form at said location apivot area about which the ski body may rock forwardly to elevate saidedges of said rear portion relative to the snow and thereby permitlateral movement of the edges and turning of the skis.

2. A snow ski comprising an elongated unitary ski body adapted to have ashoe attached to the upper side thereof in a predetermined position,said body having a rear portion with a planar undersurface which isadapted to engage and extend essentially horizontally along a horizontalsnow surface forwardly to a location near the toe of said shoe, saidrear portion having at opposite sides of and in substantially the sameplane as said undersurface two essentially sharp edges acting as bladesextending longitudinally of the ski body at positions to bite into thesnow and form a track therein preventing lateral movement of the skibody, said body having a forward portion which in use is connected inessentially fixed position relative to said rear portion with anundersurface of said forward portion meeting said rear portionundersurface and advancing gradually upwardly as it advances forwardfrom said location near the toe of the shoe to form at said location apivot area about which the ski body may rock forwardly to elevate saidedges of said rear portion relative to the snow and thereby permitlateral movement of the edges and turning of the skis.

3. A snow ski comprising an elongated unitary ski body adapted to have ashoe attached to the upper side thereof in a predetermined position,said body having a rear portion with an undersurface which is adapted toengage and extend essentially horizontally along a horizontal snowsurface forwardly to a location near the toe of said shoe and projectsre arwardly beyond said shoe a distance greater than the length of theshoe, said rear portion having two metal edge parts forming at oppositesides of and substantially as low as said undersurface two essentiallysharp edges acting as blades extending longitudinally of the ski body atpositions to bite into the snow and form a track therein preventinglateral movement of the ski body, said body having a forward portionwhich in use is connected in essentially fixed position relative to saidrear portion with an undersurface of said forward portion meeting saidrear portion undersurface and advancing gradually upwardly as itadvances forwardly from said location near the toe of the shoe to format said location a pivot area about which the ski body may rockforwardly to elevate said edges of said rear portion relative to thesnow and thereby permit lateral movement of the edges and turning of theskis.

4. A snow ski comprising an elongated unitary ski body adapted to have ashoe attached to the upper side thereof in a predetermined position,said body having a rear portion with an undersurface which is adapted toengage and extend essentially horizontally along a horizontal snowsurface forwardly to a location near the toe of said shoe, said rearportion having a tracking groove formed in and extending longitudinallyalong said undersurface, said rear portion having at opposite sides ofand substantially as low as said undersurface two essentially sharpedges acting as blades extending longitudinally of the ski body atpositions to bite into the snow and form a track therein preventinglateral movement of the ski body, said body having a forward portionwhich in use is connected in essentially fixed position relative to saidrear portion with an undersurface of said forward portion meeting saidrear portion undersurface and advancing gradually upwardly as itadvances forwardly from said location near the toe of the shoe to format said location a pivot area about which the ski body may rockforwardly to elevate said edges of said rear portion relative to thesnow and thereby permit lateral movement of the edges and turning of theskis.

5. A snow ski comprising an elongated unitary ski body adapted to have ashoe attached to the upper side thereof in a predetermined position,said body having a rear portion with an undersurface which is adapted toengage and extend essentially horizontally along a horizontal snowsurf-ace forwardly to a location near the toe of said shoe, said rearportion having two edge parts forming at opposite sides of and insubstantially the same plane as said undersurface two essentially sharpedges acting as blades extending longitudinally of the ski body atpositions to bite into the snow and form a track therein preventinglateral movement of the ski body, said body including means attachingsaid edge parts to the rest of said body for adjusting movement, saidbody having a forward portion which in use is connected in essentiallyfixed position relative to said rear portion with an undersurface ofsaid forward portion meeting said rear portion undersurface andadvancing gradually upwardly as it advances forwardly from said locationnear the toe of the shoe to form at said location a pivot area aboutwhich the ski body may rock forwardly to elevate said edges of said rearportion relative to the snow and thereby permit lateral movement of theedges and turning of the skis.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,723,693 8/29Froholm 28011.13 2,055,757 9/36 Tolman 28011.13 2,920,897 1/60 Jensen280-11.12

FOREIGN PATENTS 264,894 9/13 Germany. 285,338 6/15 Germany. 82,921 2/21Austria. 373,494 3/07 France. 924,836 3/47 France. 572,337 3/59 Canada.

A. HARRY LEVY, Primary Examiner.

2. A SNOW SKI COMPRISING AN ELONGATED UNITARY SKI BODY ADAPTED TO HAVE ASHOE ATTACHED TO THE UPPER SIDE THEREOF IN A PREDETERMINED POSITION,SAID BODY HAVING A REAR PORTION WITH A PLANAR UNDERSURFACE WHICH ISADAPTED TO ENGAGE AND EXTEND ESSENTIALLY HORIZONTALLY ALONG A HORIZONTALSNOW SURFACE FORWARDLY TO A LOCATION NEAR THE TOE OF SAID SHOE, SAIDREAR PORTION HAVING AT OPPOSITE SIDE OF AND IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAMEPLANE AS SAID UNDERSURFACE TWO ESSENTAILLY SHARP EDGE ACTING AS BLDESEXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY OF THE SKI BODY AT POSITIONS TO BILE INTO THESNOW AND FORM A TRACK THEREIN PREVENING LATERAL MOVEMENT OF THE SKIBODY, SAID BODY HAVING A FORWARD PORTION WHICH IN USE IN CONNECTED INESSENTIALLY FIXED POSITION RELATIVE TO SAID REAR PORTION WITH ANUNDERSURFACE OF SAID FORWARD PORTION MEETING SAID REAR PORTIONUNDERSURFACE AND ADVANCING GRADUALLY UPWARDLY AS IT ADVANCES FORWARDFROM SAID LOCATION NEAR TO TOE OF THE SHOE TO FORM AT SAID LOCATION APIVOT AREA ABOUT WHICH THE SKI BODY MAY ROCK FORWARDLY TO ELEVATE SAIDEDGES OF SAID REAR PORTION RELATIVE TO THE SNOW AND THEREBY PERMITLATERAL MOVEMENT OF THE EDGE AND TURNING OF THE SKIS.